Matilda Carlson

The Finnish Consumer’s Buying Behaviour in Relation to Corporate Social Responsibility

Finnish Textile and Fashion ry

Matilda Carlson

Examensarbete / Degree Thesis

Företagsekonomi / Business administration

2016

EXAMENSARBETE Arcada Utbildningsprogram: Företagsekonomi Identifikationsnum-mer:

14541

Författare: Matilda Carlson Arbetets namn:

Handledare (Arcada): Christel Willför Uppdragsgivare: Suomen Tekstiili ja Muoti Sammandrag: I detta arbete undersöker författaren hur den finländska konsumenten blir påverkad av socialt ansvar. Målet är att undersöka hur socialt ansvar hos företag påverkar konsumentens köpbeslut. Konsumenten är påverkad av många olika faktorer. En av de viktigaste delarna av marknadsföring är att förstå kundens behov och det är vik-tigt att inse att kundens behov bör uppfyllas men aldrig helt och hållet eftersom af-färslivet inte är altruistiskt. Denna undersökning är baserad på hur socialt ansvar på-verkar konsumentbeteendet. Socialt ansvar är ansvaret varje organisation har för på-verkan av dess beslut och aktiviteter på samhället och miljön. Eftersom miljö- och globala frågor är allt mer vid ytan är det även relevant för företagen att inkludera socialt ansvar i deras affärsplaner. Detta arbete använder en kvantitativ undersök-ningsmetod kombinerat med litterära studier. För att insamla data används en webb-enkät vars svar sedan analyseras med hjälp av SPSS. Resultaten visar att socialt an-svar inte är ett viktigt kriterium då den finländska konsumenten inhandlar kläder. Det visar sig även att konsumenten i sitt köpbeslut starkt blir påverkad av en brist på information om socialt ansvar. Nyckelord: Suomen Tekstiili ja Muoti, konsumentbeteende, socialt

ansvar, kvantitativ undersökning

Sidantal: Språk: Engelska Datum för godkän-nande:

DEGREE THESIS Arcada Degree Programme: Business administration Identification number: 14541 Author: Matilda Carlson Title:

Supervisor (Arcada): Christel Willför Commissioned by: Finnish Textile and Fashion Abstract: This thesis is a research about consumer behaviour in relation to corporate social re-sponsibility. The goal is to research how social responsibility in companies, affect the Finnish consumers’ buying decision. Consumer behaviour is a broad subject. The consumer is affected by a lot of different factors. The understanding of the custom-ers’ needs and wants is one of the most important parts of marketing. It is important to understand that the customer’s needs should be satisfied but never completely since business is not altruistic. This research is based on how social responsibility affects the consumer behaviour. Social responsibility is the responsibility each organization has for the impacts of its decisions and activities on the society and environment. So-cial responsibility is becoming more important for the companies to include in their business plans since the global and environmental issues are becoming more appar-ent. The thesis is using a quantitative research method combined with literature stud-ies. Data is being collected via a web survey and is then analysed with the help of SPSS. The results show that social responsibility is not a very important criterion when the Finnish consumer is buying clothes. The results also show that the consum-er is strongly affected by a lack of information about social responsibility. Keywords: Finnish Textile and Fashion, consumer behaviour, so-

cial responsibility, quantitative research

Number of pages: Language: English Date of acceptance:

INNEHÅLL / CONTENTS

1 BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................7

2 FINNISHTEXTILEANDFASHIONRY..................................................................................7

3 PROBLEM........................................................................................................................8

3.1 Purpose............................................................................................................................9

3.2 Focus/Limitations............................................................................................................9

4 METHOD.......................................................................................................................10

4.1 Choosingofmethod.......................................................................................................10

4.2 Websurvey....................................................................................................................11

4.3 Literaturereview...........................................................................................................12

4.4 Termsanddefinitions....................................................................................................13

4.5 Informationevaluation..................................................................................................13

5 THEORY.........................................................................................................................14

5.1 Consumerbehaviour......................................................................................................14

5.2 Influencesofconsumerbehaviour.................................................................................15

5.3 InternalInfluences.........................................................................................................16

5.3.1 Personalfactors.....................................................................................................16

5.3.2 Psychologicalfactors..............................................................................................16

5.4 Externalinfluences.........................................................................................................20

5.4.1 Culturalfactors......................................................................................................20

5.4.2 Socialfactors..........................................................................................................21

5.5 Socialresponsibility.......................................................................................................22

5.6 MainprinciplesofSocialResponsibility.........................................................................23

6 EMPIRICALDATAANDANALYSIS...................................................................................24

6.1 DataResults...................................................................................................................24

6.1.1 Gender...................................................................................................................24

6.1.2 Age.........................................................................................................................25

6.1.3 Occupation.............................................................................................................26

6.1.4 Whatareyourcriteriawhenbuyingclothes?........................................................26

6.1.5 Haveyoueverboughtresponsiblyproducedclothes?..........................................27

6.1.6 Whywouldyounotbuyresponsiblyproducedclothes?.......................................27

6.1.7 Whatwouldmakeyoubuymoreresponsibly?.....................................................28

6.1.8 Whichofthefollowingstatementsaretrue?........................................................29

6.1.9 Whichofthefollowingwouldencourageconsumerstobuymoreresponsibly

producedclothes?..............................................................................................................30

6.1.10 Doyouhaveinformationaboutthesocial-andenvironmentimpactsofthe

clothingindustry?...............................................................................................................31

6.1.11 Doyoubelievethatyouaremakingadifferenceinsomewaywhenyouchoose

responsiblyproducedclothes?...........................................................................................32

6.2 DataAnalysis.................................................................................................................32

6.2.1 Gender...................................................................................................................33

6.2.2 Age.........................................................................................................................33

6.2.3 Occupation.............................................................................................................34

7 Conclusions...................................................................................................................34

7.1 INTROSPECTION.............................................................................................................35

SOURCES.............................................................................................................................37

APPENDICES:.......................................................................................................................39

Appendix1:TheWebSurvey...............................................................................................39

Appendix2:AbstractinSwedish..........................................................................................42

SAMMANFATTNINGPÅSVENSKA........................................................................................42

Bakgrund.................................................................................................................................42

Problematisering.....................................................................................................................42

Metod.....................................................................................................................................43

Begreppsdefinitioner...............................................................................................................43

Teoribeskrivning......................................................................................................................44

Empiri......................................................................................................................................44

Analysochutvärdering...........................................................................................................44

Slutsatser................................................................................................................................45

Figures

Figure1Influencesofconsumerbehaviour(Patidar2014)........................................................15

Figure2Thegenderoftherespondents(2016).........................................................................25

Figure3Age-groupsoftherespondents(2016)........................................................................25

Figure4Occupationsoftherespondents(2016)........................................................................26

Figure5Therespondents’criteriawhenbuyingclothes(2016).................................................27

Figure6Thedistributionof respondents thathaveorhavenotboughtresponsiblyproduced

clothes(2016).............................................................................................................................27

Figure 7 The factors affecting the buying decision negatively, according to the respondents

(2016)..........................................................................................................................................28

Figure 8 The factors affecting the buying decision positively, according to the respondents

(2016)..........................................................................................................................................29

Figure9Statementsthattherespondentsbelievetobetrue(2016).........................................30

Figure 10 Factors that would make the consumer buy more responsibly, according to the

respondents(2016).....................................................................................................................31

Figure11Theamountofinformationeachrespondenthasaboutthesocial-andenvironment

impactsoftheclothingindustry(2016)......................................................................................31

Figure 12 The distribution of respondents believing that they are making an impact when

buyingresponsibly(2016)...........................................................................................................32

7

1 BACKGROUND

This Degree Thesis is written as an assignment from the federation Finnish Textile

and Fashion. The Thesis is going to research if the consumers’ buying behaviour

when buying clothes, is affected by social responsibility. Fashion and clothing has

been an interest of mine for a long time but during recent years I have begun won-

dering where the clothes come from and how they are produced. This is a challeng-

ing thing to measure but I find it important to bring awareness to this issue, which is

why I chose to research about this subject. Social responsibility, although an un-

known term for many, has become much more visible during the past decade be-

cause of the awareness of sustainable development. Social responsibility is means of

achieving sustainability (ASQ).

Adopting key social responsibility principles such as accountability and transparen-

cy can help ensure the long-term viability and success of any organization or sys-

tem. Another important social responsibility principle is ethical behaviour. For the

consumer to be able to actually be aware of how socially responsible a company or

an organization is some sort of transparency is needed. Without transparency of the

company it is impossible for the consumer to know if the company puts any effort

on being socially responsible. Any company can promote itself as being socially re-

sponsible but in order to actually measure it, it has to be visible for the surroundings.

But not all companies strive to be socially responsible. Some companies even focus

on portraying them as not being socially responsible or just not mentioning anything

about it. (ASQ) Although this is the case, when mentioning companies in this study,

the assumption will be that it is a company, which is socially responsible and trans-

parent about it. Unless, of course, mentioning otherwise.

2 FINNISH TEXTILE AND FASHION RY

Finnish Textile & Fashion is a federation that strives to improve the requirements of

textile- and clothing companies. The goal of the federation is to strengthen the pro-

file of the textile industry in Finland and to make it possible for member companies

8

to thrive and compete in the global market. Its mission is also to get more textile-

and clothing businesses, products and branch-related jobs to the Finnish market.

The main activities of the federation are to influence the job market and industrial

policy in Finland and in the EU. All of this is possible by advocating training and

education as well as research and product development.

The federation negotiates collective bargaining agreements and takes a stand in na-

tional and international matters and standardization. Finnish Textile & Fashion is al-

so involved in research and development programs and helps to start growth and in-

ternationalization projects with educational institutions and research institutes for its

member companies. General research in their field is also supported through annual

scholarships.

Finnish Textile & Fashion is a member of Confederation of Finnish Industrie (EK)

through Tekstiili- ja Lasitalojen liitto TL ry. (Suomen Tekstiili ja Muoti 2016)

3 PROBLEM

Many companies and organizations have realized the importance of social responsi-

bility in today’s society but the main this research is going to be about is whether the

consumer is affected by it and what kind of motives lay behind the buying decision.

The consumer plays a major role in all sectors of economic activities, which is why

it is important for the company or organization to be aware of the consumer’s inter-

ests. In this particular case the interest meaning social responsibility. There are dif-

ferent types of social responsibility, both consumer social responsibility (CnSR) and

corporate social responsibility (CSR), but in this Thesis the main focus is on the

corporate social responsibility and its effects on consumer behaviour. A main char-

acter of social responsibility is that individuals and companies act in a way that

takes the environment and the society into consideration (Investopedia).

The issue here is if and how the consumer is affected by the company’s social re-

sponsibility. There are a lot of motives that affect the consumer’s buying decision

9

and this research is questioning what these motives are. Social responsibility is of

course a positive feature in a company or organization but is it really a criterion for

making a buying decision? Especially younger consumers, that more often than not,

have smaller possibilities to invest in more expensive clothes. I am bringing this up

because clothes, which are produced ethically and responsibly, are often expensive

because it simply is more expensive for the company to produce them. This might

be problematic because for many young costumers the price is the main factor.

3.1 Purpose

The purpose of this study is to research the motives behind the target group’s buying

behaviour when buying clothes and if the target group is affected by social respon-

sibility when making a final buying decision.

3.2 Focus/Limitations

This research is focusing on social responsibility and consumer behavior. Social re-

sponsibility is a part of sustainable development so it is important to mention it as

well in this Thesis. Although it is important the study is not going to focus on sus-

tainable development as a whole because it too broad and includes different factors

which might not relate to social responsibility or consumer behavior.

Consumer behavior is also a very broad subject with characteristics from psycholo-

gy, sociology, anthropology, marketing and economics. (Evans et al. 2006) It is the

study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or

dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires (Sol-

omon 2013 p.31). This is why it is important to know what to focus on when re-

searching consumer behaviour. The part of consumer behaviour this Thesis focuses

on is the process of the individual choosing to purchase products and what factors

this process involves. Such as internal or external factors and how these affect the

10

buying decision. The usage or dispose of products is not something that is going to

be included because it is not of interest in this study.

4 METHOD

A common conception of research methods is to think of the research methods as

the contents of a toolbox. There is a problem and in order to solve it, you need the

tools. (Radford, G. P., & Goldstein, S. Z. 2002).

When deciding what kind of research method one is going to use, there are two main

strategies to choose from: quantitative and qualitative. (Bryman & Bell, 2011) The

quantitative and qualitative research methods contain many differences, but shortly

one could say that quantitative research emphasizes quantification in the collection

and analysis of data while the qualitative research usually emphasizes words. (Bry-

man & Bell 2011 pp. 26-27) When conducting a research it is important to keep crit-

ical thinking in mind. Quantitative research methods are rewarding when one wants

to analyse numbers but there are a bunch of critical points to keep in mind such as:

the reliance and procedures hinders the connection between research and everyday

life. There is no guarantee that the respondents have enough knowledge to answer a

question the way the researcher wishes for. (Bryman & Bell 2011 p. 168)

4.1 Choosing of method

This study is going to use a quantitative research method and study literature. Even

though quantitative research is the collecting of numerical data, according to Bry-

man & Bell, it is good to bear in mind that there is a great deal more to it than the

presence of numbers. It is also important to have a theory in mind when researching.

In this Thesis the research will originate from a deductive theory. Deductive implies

that there already exist theories and facts about the subject being researched and

from those theories a hypothesis is deduced. (Bryman & Bell 2011)

11

When you have a hypothesis you have to choose which research strategy you will

use. In this case the hypothesis is the question of how a certain group of consumers

and their buying behaviour is affected by social responsibility. The next step the se-

lection of the research site and then the selection of respondents. During this step it

is important to find an appropriate community to research. The following step in-

cludes administration of the research instruments. Once the information has been

collected it has to be converted into data. When the data has been converted there is

a need to analyze the data and develop the findings in the data. The final step is then

to write down the conclusions. When writing down these conclusions it is important

for the researcher to convince the readers that the research is relevant. (Bryman &

Bell 2011 pp. 150-152)

4.2 Web survey

In order to gather data a web survey is going to be conducted with a program called

QuestionPro. The target group for this web survey is the Finnish consumer, which is

why the survey is going to be conducted in Finnish. The data collection method with

a web survey is chosen because it is easy to gather a larger number of answers

through this. The types of questions in the survey are going to be personal factual

questions, questions about attitudes, questions about beliefs and questions about

normative standards and values. Because most of the questions are closed, it is easi-

er for the respondents to answer. The web survey is also quicker than personal inter-

views. (Bryman & Bell 2011)

In the book about research methods (Bryman & Bell 2011) it is suggested that the

characteristics of the interviewer can affect the respondent’s answers and this prob-

lem is of course absent when using a web survey. Another positive factor about

conducting a web survey is that all the questions are asked in the same order and in

the same way, since there is no interviewer who might change the nature of the

questions. (Bryman & Bell 2011 p. 233)

Although the web survey is in this case the most relevant method there are a few

challenges to keep in mind. For instance the absence of the interviewer might affect

12

the honesty of the respondent. Another challenge affecting honesty as mentioned

earlier that when it comes to issues such as the environment and responsibility the

individual has a tendency to sugar- coat their answers to ease their conscience.

(Bryman & Bell 2011 pp. 233-234)

The biggest challenge that this study is going to face is to get enough respondents to

answer the questions. Because of this challenge it is important to send out the web

survey through the right channels and make it appealing for the respondents.

When analyzing the answers the program that is going to be used is called SPSS,

since it is a very useful one when making these types of researches. It helps to equip

the research with a useful transferable skill. (Bell & Bryman, 2011) SPSS is the

most used computer software for the analysis of quantitative data.

4.3 Literature review

The literature review provides the basis on which you justify your research ques-

tions and build your research design (Bryman & Bell 2011 p. 91).

The relevant literature to study in this research is about consumer behaviour and so-

cial responsibility. When studying consumer behaviour the focus is specifically on

the consumer’s choices and attitudes and what factors affect these. Consumer behav-

iour is a broad subject covering a lot of different aspects so it will have to be nar-

rowed down and focus on what this study actually is about. When studying social

responsibility I am going to study social responsibility and its core.

The literature that is going to be reviewed for this research is books and articles on

available Arcada databases. Online bibliographical databases on the Internet are an

invaluable source of journal references (Bryman & Bell 2011 p. 91). Critical think-

ing is also important when studying literature and trying to choose what to include

and exclude from the Thesis. (Bryman & Bell 2011 p. 91) It is also important to

constantly be aware of how reliable the sources are and if they are worthy of using

or not.

13

4.4 Terms and definitions

Social responsibility: The responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its de-

cisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethi-

cal behaviour that: contributes to sustainable development, including health and the

welfare of society, takes into account the expectations of stakeholders, is in compli-

ance with applicable laws and consistent with international norms of behaviour, is

integrated throughout the organization and practiced in its relationships (TÜV

Rheinland).

Sustainable development: Sustainable development is an on-going and structured

process where society undergoes changes with the aim of securing desirable living

conditions for the current and future generations (Ympäristöministeriö).

Consumer behaviour: The study of the processes involved when individuals or

groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to

satisfy needs and desires (Solomon 2013 p.31).

4.5 Information evaluation

When studying and reading about these subjects it is important that the sources are

reliable and credible. One should of course never trust the Internet completely but

by keeping a critical mind when researching there is no harm to be done. The data

gathering method is going to be quantitative and this whole study would probably be

different if it would be a qualitative method because shortly explained, the quantita-

tive focuses on quantification of numbers and the qualitative focuses on words.

The quantitative research method used is a web survey but if it would be a qualita-

tive method like for example personal interviews the structure of this thesis would

be different. The study would be a deeper research based on a small number of indi-

viduals. There would be more detailed and personal answers but not the possibility

to gather the same amount of answers. It would also be possible to ask other kinds

of questions and have a discussion about certain subjects.

14

5 THEORY

5.1 Consumer behaviour

The understanding of the customers’ needs and wants is one of the most important

parts of marketing. As a marketer it is important to realize that the customer needs

should be satisfied but never completely since business is not altruistic. (Evans et al.

2006) It is also important to realize that marketers can satisfy these needs only to the

extent that the people or organizations that will use the products and services they

sell. So needless to say, understanding the consumers is the most vital part of mar-

keting. (Solomon 2013)

Consumer behaviour is a process that has a range of steps and affecting factors.

(Solomon 2013 p. 32) In the book Consumer Behaviour (Evans et al. 2006) there is

three main parts mentioned that describes consumer behaviour: the individual as-

pects of consumer behaviour, social and group aspects of consumer behaviour and

integrated approaches to consumer behaviour.

When dividing the influences affecting consumer behaviour a helpful method is to

divide the factors into internal and external influences. (Patidar 2014) This thesis is

focusing on researching the internal influences, but it is important to remember that

every single influence is important.

15

Figure 1 Influences of consumer behaviour (Patidar 2014)

5.2 Influences of consumer behaviour

When researching consumer behaviour it is helpful to divide the different consumer

influencing factors into external and internal influences. (Patidar 2014) These can

then be divided into different factors. Internal influences include: personal factors

such as age, income, occupation, life style and personality and psychological factors

such as motivation, perception, learning and beliefs & attitudes. External influences

include: cultural factors such as culture, sub-culture and social class and social fac-

tors such as family, reference group and role & status. (Patidar 2014) All of these in-

fluences are of course part of affecting the consumer behaviour but in this research

the main focus is going to be on motivation and attitudes.

16

5.3 Internal Influences

As can be seen in figure 1, internal influences can be divided into two main factors:

personal factors and psychological factors.

5.3.1 Personal factors

Age: dividing consumers in age groups, is a helpful tool. It is helpful because alt-

hough every individual is different from each other, people in the same age group

have a tendency to have the same set of values and common cultural experiences.

(Salomon 2013 p. 35)

Income: people who have the same income usually have similar professions and

share the same taste in music, clothing, leisure activities and art. It is also common

that they attract each other and share values and ideas. (Solomon 2013 p. 35-36)

Occupation: the occupation of an individual plays an important role in the individu-

al’s consumer behaviour. The profession usually has a strong connection with the

products and brands the individual chooses. (Management study guide)

Lifestyle: lifestyle defines a pattern of consumption that reflects a person’s choices

of how to spend her time and money. (Solomon 2013 p. 493)

Personality: personality as a definition is those inner psychological charasteristics

that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment.

These charasteristics affect the way consumers respond to marketers’ promotional

efforts and how they consume different products. So personality traits are a really

defining factor of consumer behaviour. (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 137)

5.3.2 Psychological factors

Motivation: A basic concept in human behaviour and also consumer behaviour is

motivation, which is why it is so important to understand and study.

17

It is the driving force within individuals. Produced by a state of tension it is the re-

sult of an unfulfilled need that moves us away from psychological equilibrium or

homeostasis. (Evans et al. 2006)

The individual has both physiological and psychological drives and both attribute to

motivation. In this Thesis one could say that the psychological drive is more im-

portant to focus on. There are a whole range of psychogenic drives that occurs from

our culture, social environment and social group interactions. (Evans et al. 2006)

There is also positive and negative motivation as well as internal and external moti-

vation. The terms speak for themselves. When researching motivation it is useful to

ask the respondent how they perceive product attributes and what these reveal about

their values. This research is called mean-end chain. (Evans et al. 2006)

Perception: Simply put, perception is the way each individual sees the world. Two

individuals that are presented to the exact same stimuli under the exact same condi-

tions can still perceive them differently. The way the individuals perceive these

things is based on each person’s own needs, values and expectations. Consumers are

subconsciously very selective when it comes to which aspects of the environment

(stimuli) they perceive (Schiffman et al. 2010).

Learning: Learning is a complex subject because there is no generally accepted def-

inition of learning but in this case it is going to be from a marketing perspective. It

is the process by which individuals acquire the purchase and experience that they

apply to future related behaviour (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 210). Learning is a quite

lasting change in the individual’s behaviour caused by experience. It is good to re-

member that it is an on going process that basically never ends. (Salomon 2013)

Attitudes (& Beliefs): An attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of people (includ-

ing oneself), objects, advertisements, or issues (Solomon, 2013 p. 273). Attitude is

used in a lot of different scenarios and contexts but when mentioning attitude in this

thesis I am referring to the description above.

18

Beliefs are a number of different statements the individual has about something that

reflects the individual’s knowledge and assessment of this something. (Shiffman et

al. 2010 p. 366)

The functional theory of attitudes, developed by psychologist Daniel Katz, is a

pragmatic approach claiming that attitudes exist because they serve a function to the

individual. The theory consists of different attitude functions: utilitarian function,

value-expressive function, ego-defensive function and knowledge function. (Solo-

mon 2013 pp. 273-274)

An attitude has three factors: affect, behaviour and cognition. Affect portrays the

consumer’s feelings towards an attitude object. Behaviour is as one can presume, the

consumer’s intentions to take action about it. Cognition refers to the consumer’s be-

liefs about the attitude object. All of these three factors correlate when the consumer

is making the buying decision and when the marketer is trying to evaluate the con-

sumer’s attitude towards the attitude object. (Solomon 2013)

Because there are so many different types of attitudes it is also important to realize

that the attitudes are created in different ways and forms. The attitudes of consumers

also have different levels of commitment. Even though one might not actively think

about it on a daily basis, attitudes impact the choices we make as consumers. Ac-

cording to Solomon we can divide the level of attitude commitment in three levels:

compliance, identification and internalization. Solomon mentions a variety of theo-

ries to how we as consumers create attitudes. (Solomon 2013)

In order to keep a harmony and consistency among our different attitude-

components we are motivated to even change our behaviour if needed. This is called

the principle of cognitive consistency. The principle of cognitive dissonance is when

we are motivated to reduce a negative feeling in order to keep a balance because two

cognitive elements clash. (Solomon 2013)

Another theory of how attitudes are formed is called the self-perception theory. It

implies that we determine our own attitudes by observing our behaviour. It also im-

19

plies that we recognize another individual’s attitudes by following his/her behav-

iour. The social judgement theory concludes that the individual has an existing

standard attitude to which the new information is shaped around. (Solomon 2013)

Attitude models are determining the different factors that influence the individual’s

opinion of the attitude objects. As mentioned earlier, attitudes are more complex

than one might realize. Because of this it is important for the researcher to have a

working attitude model in order to understand the different factors affecting atti-

tudes. A model that researchers could use is the multi-attribute attitude model. This

type of model assumes that a consumer’s attitude toward an attitude object depends

on the beliefs she has about several of its attributes (Solomon 2013 p. 282). The

most popular multi-attribute model is the Fishbein model, which measures three

components of attitude: salient beliefs individuals have about an attitude object, ob-

ject-attitude linkages and evaluation of the attributes. (Solomon 2013)

An attitude-affecting factor that I find worthy mentioning in this attitude section is

social pressure. More often than one would like to admit it, we are affected by what

we believe other people would like us to do. This also affects the consumer’s deci-

sion-making progress, as social acceptance is important for the most of us.

Changing the consumer’s attitudes is a challenging task for the marketer. When try-

ing to change the consumer’s attitude persuasion is the most important factor but it

is also important to be aware of the basic psychological principles that might affect

the individual to change her mind. They are the following: reciprocity, scarcity, au-

thority, consistency, liking and consensus. When trying to change the consumer’s at-

titude an important tool is the communications model. It defines the components

they need to control in order to communicate with their customers. Although the

traditional communications model is a very useful tool it is good to remember that

the consumer is not a passive receiver of different messages. (Solomon 2013)

In today’s world the consumers have a greater control over which messages they

choose to process. Another factor to remember is that the source has to be credible

in order for the message to be effective. The message itself also has different factors

that affect how it is perceived. Finally it is the characteristics of the target group that

20

determine if it is the nature of the source or the message itself that is more effective.

(Solomon 2013)

5.4 External influences

The external influences can be divided into two further influences, which are cultur-

al- and social factors. As can be seen in figure 1 the cultural factors are: culture, sub-

culture and social class. The social factors are: family, reference groups and roles &

status. (Patidar 2014) Although the internal and external influences are equally im-

portant in consumer behaviour, this research is focusing on the internal influences

since they are more relevant in this particular subject.

5.4.1 Cultural factors

Culture: Simply said culture is the personality of a society. Culture is a broad sub-

ject but in this context a relevant definition is: “the learned beliefs, values, and cus-

toms that serve direct the consumer behaviour of members of a particular society”

(Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 366).

Sub-culture: Sub-culture is a group of individuals that share beliefs, values and cus-

toms that separates them from other members of the same society. (Schiffman et al.

2010 p. 392) Every individual belong to many different sub-cultures depending on

different factors. (Solomon 2013 p. 508)

Social class: Social class hierarchically divides individuals into different status clas-

ses which leads to that every class have either lower or higher statuses than other

classes. (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 76) Different status factors, that affects which so-

cial class the individual belongs to are for example, relative wealth, power and pres-

tige. (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 338)

21

5.4.2 Social factors

Family: Family is one of the most important social groupings for many individuals,

especially for children growing up. (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 338) Although family

is a quite basic concept (two or more individuals related by blood, marriage or adop-

tion who reside together) it is more complex than that. (Schiffman 2010 et al. p.

318) Other types of families grow quickly in our society for example intentional

families; groups of individual who meet regularly for different occasions that are not

related in any way. (Solomon 2013 p. 398)

Reference groups: From a marketing point of view, reference groups are groups that

are perceived as credible and act like references for the individuals in their con-

sumption decisions. There are a few different types of reference groups such as:

normative reference groups (closest family for a growing child), comparative refer-

ence groups (a group that an individual finds worthy of imitating), membership

groups and symbolic groups.

Roles & Status: Individuals play different roles in different situations. It is com-

pletely normal for each individual to change their roles according to what situation

they are in. (Schiffman et al. 2010 p. 163) Because of these different roles, individu-

als might change their consumer behaviour according to their role. (Solomon 2013

p. 40) From a marketing point of view the consumer with more purchasing power

has a higher status. So basically in a marketing society the status is depending on

how much purchase power the consumer has.

When studying consumer behaviour it is also important to try to understand the con-

sumer response to marketing actions. A quite useful model is the hierarchy of com-

munication effects. It includes: exposure, attention, perception, learning, attitude,

action, post-purchase. These are relevant when studying consumer behaviour and

how they react to marketing actions. (Evans et al. 2006)

Another factor to remember when studying consumer behaviour is consumer de-

mographics such as: age, gender and occupation. There are different types of ages,

22

physical and cognitive. In marketing the cognitive age is a useful tool since it usual-

ly means that the individual feels younger than their biological age. (Solomon 2013)

5.5 Social responsibility

The importance of focusing on the global and environmental issues is continuously

growing so it is natural for companies to be aware of this subject when constructing

their business plans. A way of doing it is focusing on corporate social responsibility,

something that earlier was seen as some sort of luxury for a small percentage of

companies is nowadays a well-known subject of the public. (Aras et al. 2016)

The general idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is that businesses should

have more responsibility and duties towards society rather than their stakeholders.

(Paetzold 2010) When focusing on social responsibility as an organization or com-

pany there is an international standard called ISO 26000 (International Organization

for Standardization), which provides guidance on the social responsibility of organi-

zations. (TÜV Rheinland) It is developed to help organizations measure the social

responsibilities that are relevant and significant to their vision. (ASQ)

As mentioned already, social responsibility is the responsibility each organization

has for the impacts of its decisions and activities on the society and environment.

The idea is that the company’s focus should not be entirely on maximizing the prof-

its but also on being socially responsible. Social responsibility also leads to develop-

ing businesses with a positive relationship to the society. (Investopedia) According

to ISO the relationship between the organization and society is increasingly being

used as a measure for their performance. It has become more popular for companies

to include social responsibility into their business models. Many investors and con-

sumers use the level of social responsibility in a company as a criterion for interact-

ing with it. (Investopedia)

23

5.6 Main principles of Social Responsibility

ISO 26000 has defined seven main principles of social responsibility that are valua-

ble guidelines for each organization: Accountability, transparency, ethical behav-

iour, respect for the stakeholders interests, rule of law, international norms of behav-

iour and human rights. (TÜV Rheinland)

Mentioned first is accountability. Accountability is an ethical concept that has sev-

eral meanings. (Visser et al. 2010) Considering this research is referring to organiza-

tions and companies, accountability in this case means the organization being an-

swerable for every decision and activity and their impact on the society, the econo-

my and the environment. (TÜV Rheinland)

Transparency in an organization means to be open about the decisions and activities

that have an impact on the society and the environment. (TÜV Rheinland)

Ethical behaviour is also a principle mentioned that is quite obvious in many situa-

tions. Simply said ethics are the guidelines for what morally is right and wrong.

Business ethics is mainly focusing on the rules not covered by the law. It is the

guidelines of right and wrong beyond what is defined by law. (Visser et al. 2010)

It is also important for the company to respect, consider and respond to the interests

of its stakeholders. The sustainability of the organization is dependent on the rela-

tionship with the stakeholders. (Visser et al. 2010)

To respect the rule of law and following the international norms of behaviour are

quite obvious terms that speak for themselves.

The final principle, human rights, is a very broad subject. It is good to keep in mind

that although human rights, is a universal concept, different cultures have different

views on human rights. (Spagnoli 2007) This thesis though, is focusing the UN def-

inition of human rights. It contains 29 articles about what rights every individual is

entitled to. A basic concept is that everyone is equal and has the same rights regard-

24

ing race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social

origin, property, birth or other status (The United Nations).

6 EMPIRICAL DATA AND ANALYSIS

The data was gathered with the help of an online survey program called Ques-

tionPro. The language of the survey was Finnish although this Thesis is written in

English, the reason being that the target group is Finnish consumers. The questions

were about the consumer’s behaviour and attitude when buying clothes focusing on

the aspect of social responsibility. The point of the web survey was to research if

and how the consumer is affected by social responsibility when buying clothes. The

questions were constructed considering attitudes, behaviour and beliefs.

The online web survey was posted on Facebook. In the post people were asked to

answer the survey and then share it on Facebook since this would bring more visibil-

ity to the survey. A total of five people shared it. Of the gadgets used to answer the

survey, 58.51% were smartphones, 40.43% were laptops/computers and 1.06% was

a tablet. To analyse the data gathered by the web survey I used SPSS, which is soft-

ware by IBM that is used for analysing statistics. (IBM)

6.1 Data Results

6.1.1 Gender

There were a total of 81 answering and a missing value of 4. Of the individuals an-

swering the survey, there were 56 women (nainen) and 21 men (mies).

25

Figure 2 The gender of the respondents (2016).

6.1.2 Age

In the survey there were five different age-categories: under 21, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50

and over 51. The category with the most participants was clearly 21-30 with 64 in-

dividuals, which was 79% of the total answers. The second largest was the over 51

category with 8 individuals. The under 21 category had four respondents and the 41-

50 category only had one. As you can see from the graph, the 31-40 category had

zero respondents which is why it is not included in the chart.

Figure 3 Age- groups of the respondents (2016).

Nainen73%

Mies27%

n:77

4

64

1

8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

<20 21-30 41-50 >51 n:77

26

6.1.3 Occupation

There were four different categories of occupation. Student and unemployed

(opiskelija, työtön), student and employed (opiskelija, työssäkäyvä), full-time em-

ployed (työskentelen täysi-aikaisesti), unemployed (työtön). Of these the full time-

employed had the most respondents with a total of 40 respondents. The second larg-

est category was student and employed with 28 respondents. Student and unem-

ployed had 7 respondents and unemployed had only 2.

Figure 4 Occupations of the respondents (2016).

6.1.4 What are your criteria when buying clothes?

What are your criteria when buying clothes was a multiple response question where

the respondent could choose three answers at the most. The different criteria were:

brand (tavaramerkki), fit (istuvuus), quality (laatu), design (suunnittelu), responsibly

produced (vastuullisesti valmistettu), price (hinta) and other (muu). The different

criteria had the following responses; brand: 12, fit: 71, quality: 55, design: 15, re-

sponsibly produced: 7, price: 56

7

28

40

2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Opiskelija,työtön Opiskelija,työssäkäyvä

Työskentelentäysi-aikaises^

Työtön n:77

27

Figure 5 The respondents’ criteria when buying clothes (2016).

6.1.5 Have you ever bought responsibly produced clothes?

When asking if the respondent had bought responsibly produced clothes, 74% of the

respondents had and 26% had not.

Figure 6 The distribution of respondents that have or have not bought responsibly produced clothes (2016).

6.1.6 Why would you not buy responsibly produced clothes?

This was also a multiple response question that allowed the respondent to choose

three answers to the maximum. The different options and their amount of responses

were: finding them is too difficult (niiden löytäminen liian työlästä): 33 responses,

12

71

55

157

56

01020304050607080

Tavaramerkki Istuvuus Laatu Suunni`elu Vastuullises^valmiste`u

Hinta n:77

56

20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Kyllä Ei n:76

28

too expensive (liian kallista): 40 responses, the clothes are too boring (vaatteet liian

tylsiä): 8 responses, too little information (liian vähän tietoa aiheesta): 41 responses,

the supply is too limited (liian vähän tarjontaa): 35 responses, the companies are ex-

ploiting responsibly produced clothing from a marketing point of view (yritykset

hyväksikäyttävät vastuullisesti tuotettuja vaatteita markkinointimielessä): 13 respon-

ses, I always buy responsibly (ostan aina vastuullisesti): 2 responses, other (muu)

Figure 7 The factors affecting the buying decision negatively, according to the respondents (2016).

6.1.7 What would make you buy more responsibly?

This question was, as well as the one above is a multiple response question with a

maximum of three answers. Here are the following options and amount of respons-

es: a wider range of products (laajempi tarjonta): 52 responses, my favoured brands

would produce responsibly produced fashion: 37 responses, better design/fit

(parempi muotoilu/istuvuus): 11 responses, cheaper price (halvempi hinta): 39 re-

sponses, more information about the subject (enemmän tietoa aiheesta): 39 respons-

es, other (muu).

33

40

8

41

35

13

2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

n:75

29

Figure 8 The factors affecting the buying decision positively, according to the respondents (2016).

6.1.8 Which of the following statements are true?

This was a multiple response question where the respondent was free to choose the

amount of answers. The different options and amount of responses were: the author-

ities should regulate the clothing supply to more responsible options (viranomaisten

pitäisi säännellä markkinoilla olevaa vaatetarjontaa vastuullisempiin vaihtoehtoisi-

in): 32, it is the consumer’s responsibility (kuluttaja kantaa itse vastuun): 46, it is the

companies responsibility to offer more responsibly produced clothes (vaateyritysten

vastuu tarjota vastuullisesti tuotettuja tuotteita): 43, although I am aware of the ne-

gative parts of the clothing industry, I do not care about them (vaikka tunnenkin

vaateteollisuuden negatiiviset puolet, en välitä niistä): 10, I believe that bad envi-

ronment- and working conditions are a necessary evil so that the developing

countries can thrive (mielestäni huonot ympäristö- ja työolot ovat välttämätön paha,

niin että kehitysmaat kehittyisivät): 4, none of the alternatives (ei mikään vaihtoeh-

doista): 2.

52

37

11

39 39

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Laajempitarjonta

Suosimanitavaramerkittuo`aisivatvast.tuot.

Parempimuotoilu

Halvempihinta Enemmän^etoaaiheesta

n:75

30

Figure 9 Statements that the respondents believe to be true (2016).

6.1.9 Which of the following would encourage consumers to buy more responsibly produced clothes?

This was the final multiple response question in the survey and the respondent was

able to answer a maximum of three responses. The different options were: the legis-

lation would be regulated (lainsäädäntöä kiristettäisiin), the companies would offer

more responsible options (yritykset tarjoisivat enemmän vastuullisia vaihtoehtoja),

the consumer would be given more information about the issues of the clothing in-

dustry (kuluttajalle annettaisiin enemmän tietoa vaateteollisuuden ongelmista), the

consumers would boycott the non-responsibly produced clothes (kuluttajat boikoto-

isivat ei-vastuullisesti tuotettuja vaatteita), the external control of clothing compa-

nies (vaateyritysten ulkopuolinen valvonta), other (muu).

32

4643

10

42

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

n:75

31

Figure 10 Factors that would make the consumer buy more responsibly, according to the respondents (2016).

6.1.10 Do you have information about the social- and environment impacts of the clothing industry?

Of the total respondents answering about the amount of information they had on the

subject, only 3% had a lot of information about the subject (paljon tietoa aiheesta).

A whole of 80% had some information (jonkin verran tietoa) and 17% had no in-

formation about the subject (ei yhtään tietoa aiheesta).

Figure 11 The amount of information each respondent has about the social- and environment impacts of the clothing industry (2016).

32

49 50

21

29

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

n:75

2

60

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Paljon^etoa Jonkinverran^etoa Eiyhtään^etoa n:75

32

6.1.11 Do you believe that you are making a difference in some way when you choose responsibly produced clothes?

When asking the respondents if they believed that they were making a difference

when buying responsibly produced clothing, 57% answered yes (kyllä) and 43% an-

swered no (ei).

Figure 12 The distribution of respondents believing that they are making an impact when buying responsibly (2016).

6.2 Data Analysis

When analysing the results with the help of SPSS there were a lot of interesting

findings. The program makes it possible to see how the different variables affect the

responses, and this was done in order to get the information needed. As mentioned

earlier in the theory of consumer behaviour the focus of the survey was on the inter-

nal influences of consumer behaviour. The questions in the survey were created re-

garding these influences. Both personal factors, such as: age, income, occupation

and psychological factors, such as: attitudes, beliefs and motivation with attitude be-

ing the biggest focus. An attitude has three factors: affect, behaviour and cognition

(beliefs). All of these have been considered when constructing the web survey be-

cause all of these correlate when the consumer is making the buying decision. Gen-

der has been added as a factor although it was not mentioned in the theory because it

is an equally important variable to analyse. This data analysis is based on these fac-

43

32

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Kyllä Ei n:75

33

tors and functions as an insight into how the factors affect consumer behaviour in

this research.

6.2.1 Gender

When asking the question if the respondent had ever bought a responsibly produced

clothing 82% of the women answered affirmatively while only 50% of the men had

done it. This could be the result of a lack in information about the subject because

when asking the respondent why they would choose not to buy responsibly 71% of

the men had a lack of information as a choice. Of the women 48% had this choice

while the price was the biggest factor for them. The pattern was repeated when ask-

ing what would make the respondent to buy more responsibly, 63% of the men

thought that more information about the subject would lead to buying more. The

women had a broader supply as their number one option with 71% responses.

6.2.2 Age

Dividing individuals into age groups is a very useful tool because, as mentioned in

the theory, people in the same age group usually have similar values. This was visi-

ble in the survey. In the age factor it was clear that the over 51 had the lack of in-

formation about social responsibility as an issue. In the survey 75% had the lack of

information as an option when the question was why they would choose not to buy

responsibly produces clothing. Over 71% thought that more information about the

subject would increase their consumption of responsibly produced clothes. In the

same category only 36% thought that the responsibility is the consumer’s when it

comes to buying responsibly while the other age-categories had 61% or more.

The price was a non-existent issue for the 41-50 year olds in this survey since not a

single person had cheaper price as an affecting factor in what would make them buy

more responsibly. This could be explained by the theory that most of the respond-

ents in the same age category have similar values including financial matters.

34

6.2.3 Occupation

According to the theory, occupation is also a relevant way to divide consumers into

groups. Although the theory mentions that specific professions has connections with

the product that the consumer chooses, dividing individuals into a bit larger groups

such as employed and unemployed is also a helpful tool.

When cross-tabulating occupation with the questions, every category had fit as their

most important criteria and quality was the second most important one. Price was

the second most important criterion when making a buying decision. Non-

surprisingly, everyone in the unemployed category was affected by price when it

came to what would make these buy more responsibly produced clothes. The unem-

ployed students were mostly affected by the amount of information about the sub-

ject with 83%.

7 CONCLUSIONS

The purpose of this study was to research the motives behind the target group’s buy-

ing behaviour when buying clothes and if the target group is affected by social re-

sponsibility when making a buying decision. According to the results of the web

survey, social responsibility has quite little impact on the Finnish consumer’s buy-

ing decision but does not rule out the amount of interest. The lack of information

about social responsibility among consumers is actually the issue. Although the so-

cial- and environmental issues are becoming more and more public, there is still a

big gap in the knowledge that the everyday consumer has about these issues.

For the organizations trying to emphasize social responsibility the next step would

be to figure out how to market social responsibility in a way that would make it ap-

pealing for the consumer. A model for this could be the hierarchy of communication

effects, which includes exposure, attention, perception, learning, action, post-

purchase. It would also be important not to assume that the consumer knows the def-

inition of social responsibility. As can be seen in the analysis of the survey results,

35

the amount of information that the consumers have about social responsibility is

strongly affecting their buying decision. The fact that almost half of the respondents

do not believe that they make an impact in some way when buying responsibly is al-

so quite concerning. This could also be a lack of information about the subject or

just plain ignorance, whichever it is, there lays importance in making the consumer

realise that they in fact do make an impact with their buying decision in order to

make a change towards the positive, hence changing the attitude of the consumer.

Changing the consumers’ attitudes would make a remarkable impact because atti-

tudes impact the consumers’ choices, many times unconsciously. When trying to

make an impact on the consumers’ attitudes it is important to remember that there

are different forms of attitudes and attitudes are created in different ways.

7.1 INTROSPECTION

There are some changes I would consider doing, if I were to do this again. As men-

tioned already in the analysis chapter the age-category, 31-40, did not have any re-

spondents at all. This is most likely the result of only having Facebook as a market-

ing channel for the web survey. Although it is a powerful channel for visibility and I

am pleased with the amount of respondents it is quite limited to the largest age

group of my connections there. This issue can also be seen by the fact that a total of

83% of the respondents were in the 21-30-age category, which is the largest age

group of my Facebook connections. This could have been improved by trying to

reach the missing age group through another channel by more thoroughly research-

ing different types of platforms and channels for sharing the web survey as men-

tioned already in the method description.

Since this Thesis is about consumer behaviour, it has been a challenge to choose and

include the most relevant theories about consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour

is a very broad subject so it has been a challenge to narrow it down and only bring

up the theories that support the Thesis. Considering the outcome of the web survey I

would research more about the consumer awareness about social- and environment

issues and add this to the theory, leaving out some of the theory that now seem irrel-

36

evant to this research. Consumer awareness is an important factor to this Thesis,

which should have been brought up in the theory section.

SOURCES

Aras, G 2016, Corporate Social Responsibility: A Handbook of Corporate Governance

and Social Responsibility, Gower, Farnham, GB. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. Col-

lected 14.5.2016

ASQ. 2016, What Is Social Responsibility. Available from: http://asq.org/learn-about-

quality/social-responsibility/ Collected: 30.3.2016

Bell, Emma & Bryman, Alan. 2011, Business Research Methods, 3rd edition. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 675 p.

Evans, Martin & Foxall, Gordon & Jamal, Ahmad. 2006, Consumer behaviour. Hobo-

ken NJ: Wiley Ltd, 404 p.

Explorable. 2016. Available from: https://explorable.com/types-of-validity Collected:

30.3.2016

IBM. 2016, Available from: http://www.ibm.com/analytics/us/en/technology/spss/ Col-

lected: 3.10.2016

Investopedia. 2016, Social Responsibility. Available from:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialresponsibility.asp Collected: 21.3.2016

Management Study Guide. 2016, Personal Factors affecting Consumer behaviour.

Available from: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/personal-factors-affecting-

consumer-behaviour.htm Collected: 11.5.2016

Paetzold, K 2010, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg,

DE. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. Collected: 15.5.2016

Patidar, Manish. 2014, Factors influencing consumer behaviour. E notes MBA. Availa-

ble from: http://www.enotesmba.com/2014/03/mba-notes-factors-influencing-

consumer-behaviour.html Collected: 29.3.2016

Radford, G. P., & Goldstein, S. Z. 2002, The role of research methods in corporate

communication. Corporate Communications, 7(4), p. 252-256. Available from:

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Schiffman, Leon G & Lazar Kanuk, Leslie & Wisenblit, Joseph. 2010, Consumer be-

havior. Boston MA: Pearson, 592 p.

Solomon, Michael R. 2013, Consumer behavior: buying, having and being. Harlow:

Personal education, 639 p.

Spagnoli, F 2007, Real Human Rights, Algora Publishing, New York, NY, USA. Avail-

able from: ProQuest ebrary. Collected: 15.5.2016

The United Nations. 2016, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available

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TÜV Rheinland. 2016, ISO 26000: Guidance on Social Responsibility. Available from:

https://www.tuv.com/media/india/informationcenter_1/systems/Corporate_Social_Resp

onsibility.pdf Collected: 25.3.2016

Visser, W, Matten, D, & Pohl, M 2010, A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility (1),

Wiley, Hoboken, GB. Available from: ProQuest ebrary. Collected: 15 May 2016

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us/the_environment/Sustainable_development Collected: 30.3.2016

APPENDICES:

APPENDIX 1: THE WEB SURVEY

APPENDIX 2: ABSTRACT IN SWEDISH

SAMMANFATTNING PÅ SVENSKA

Bakgrund

Jag har gjort mitt slutarbete i samarbete med Suomen Tekstiili ja Muoti ry. Målet

med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur socialt ansvar hos företag påverkar

konsumentens köpbeslut. Målet har även varit att undersöka motiven bakom köpbe-

sluten och i fall socialt ansvar har någon inverkan på dessa.

Jag har alltid varit intresserad av mode och kläder men har de senaste åren börjat

fundera på varifrån kläderna jag köper kommer ifrån. Jag anser att det är viktigt att

föra fram medvetenhet om ämnet vilket är orsaken att jag valde att göra en studie

om detta ämne.

För att konsumenten verkligen skall kunna vara medveten om socialt ansvar är det

viktigt för organisationen att vara tillräckligt genomskinlig med sina handlingar,

utan det är det omöjligt för konsumenten att kunna veta i fall företaget verkligen är

socialt ansvarsfullt. Vem som helst kan påstå sig vara socialt ansvarsfull men för att

kunna mäta detta måste det vara synligt för omgivningen.

Problematisering

Fastän allt fler företag och organisationer börjar inse hur viktigt det är att inkludera

socialt ansvar i sina verksamheter, har huvudpoängen med denna studie varit att un-

dersöka i fall konsumenten blir påverkad av det och vilka andra motiv som ligger

bakom köpbeslutet. Det som har undersökts är i fall socialt ansvar faktiskt är ett kri-

terium då köpbeslutet görs.

Konsumenten har viktig roll i alla sektorer av de ekonomiska aktiviteterna vilket gör

det viktigt för företaget eller organisationen att vara medveten om konsumentens in-

tressen. I detta fall är intresset socialt ansvar. Det finns olika typer av socialt ansvar,

men i denna undersökning skrivs det om corporate social responsibility (CSR). Det

huvudsakliga karaktärsdraget av socialt ansvar är att individer och företag beter sig

på ett sätt som tar omgivningen och samhället i beaktande.

Metod

Metoden som användes var en kvantitativ undersökning kombinerat med litterära

studier. Målgruppen för denna undersökning var den finska konsumenten som

skulle nås via olika marknadsföringskanaler. Konsumenterna undersöktes med

hjälp av en webbenkät som skapades med hjälp av programmet QuestionPro.

En kvalitativ undersökning med hjälp av till exempel intervjuer, skulle ha gjort det

möjligt att få mer personliga svar och insikter men det eftersom målet var att samla

in en stor mängd svar så var webbenkäten mer relevant i denna studie. Den största

utmaningen var få tillräckligt med data insamlat. Detta var möjligt tack vare en till-

räckligt välgjord enkät och de rätta marknadsföringskanalerna.

Begreppsdefinitioner

Socialt ansvar: Socialt ansvar är ansvaret varje organisation har för påverkan av dess

beslut och aktiviteter på samhället och miljön.

Hållbar utveckling: Hållbar utveckling är en pågående och strukturerad process där

företaget genomgår förändringar med målet att försäkra sig om en önskvärd lev-

nadsstandard för nuvarande och framtida generationer.

Konsumentbeteende: Studien om processerna involverade då individer eller grupper

väljer, köper, använder eller gör sig av med produkter, idéer eller upplevelser för att

tillfredsställa behov och begär.

Teoribeskrivning

Konsumentbeteende är ett mycket brett ämne vilket gjorde det en aning utmanande

att välja ut teorier och information som var relevant för denna undersökning. Att un-

dersöka och försöka förstå konsumentbeteende är den viktigaste delen av marknads-

föring. En användbar metod att dela in influenserna som påverkar konsumenten i in-

terna och externa influenser. Denna studie har fokuserat på de interna influenserna

som ytterligare delas in i: personliga faktorer och psykologiska faktorer.

Socialt ansvar är kort sagt ansvaret varje organisation har för påverkan av dess be-

slut och aktiviteter på samhället och miljön. ISO 26000 har definierat sju huvud-

principer av socialt ansvar: ansvarsutkrävande, genomskinlighet, etiskt beteende, re-

spekt för intressenternas insatser, lagar, internationella normer och människliga rät-

tigheter. Dessa är värdefulla riktlinjer för alla organisationer men det är bra att

komma ihåg att de inte är lagar.

Empiri

Informationen samlades in med hjälp av ett en webbenkät. Enkäten skapades med

ett program vid namn av QuestionPro. Programmet är lättanvänt och webbenkäterna

gjorda där ser professionella ut. Språket i enkäten var på finska eftersom målgrupp-

en är de finska konsumenterna. Enkäten delades med på Facebook där det uppmunt-

rades att dela den vidare.

Analys och utvärdering

I dataanalysen användes programmet SPSS för att göra det möjligt att ta reda på hur

de olika variablerna påverkade respondenternas svar. Webbenkäten drog in 81 svar

med mycket lågt saknande värde. Diagrammen skapades med hjälp av SPSS, Excel

och Word.

Slutsatser

Poängen med denna studie var att undersöka motiven bakom målgruppens beteen-

demönster då de köper kläder och ifall målgruppen verkligen blir påverkad av soci-

alt ansvar då de gör sitt slutliga köpbeslut. Resultaten visade att socialt ansvar har en

ganska liten påverkan hos den finska konsumenten men detta utesluter inte att det

finns intresse. Det egentliga problemet gällande detta ämne är en brist på informat-

ion om socialt ansvar. Trots att miljö- och sociala frågor är allt mer på tapeten så

finns det fortfarande en brist på kunskap om detta.